Phoenix Down
by sonicscrewed
Summary: Set moments after the ending of Kingdom Hearts III Kairi's revelations of what happened to Sora send Riku to the Shibuya Underground to help get him out. Plotty eventual Soriku. See first chapter notes. SPOILERS (x posted to Ao3)
1. Chapter 1

Notes: So, the end of KHIII drove me crazy, like, spiraling into depression crazy, and I just had to do something about it. After making some rants on tumblr, a lovely person who posts as kh-soriku clued me in to the whole The World Ends With You theory - in which Sora is dead and is in the Shibuya Underground during KHIII's secret ending: Yozora.

I refamiliarized myself with the TWEWY characters in Kingdom Hearts canon (Dream Drop Distance's Traverse Town) because honestly, I'd forgotten about them. It's the tutorial of the game. I kinda check out during those. Big mistake in this instance.

Anyway, I ran with it.

For those who know TWEWY really well - this is a Kingdom Hearts fic. So, while I use some elements for TWEWY, the story primarily revolves around Sora and Riku. I don't think there will be any of the the TWEWY characters, other than the Reapers, The Conductor, and Joshua. (Who I've done my research on. So I know things Mickey doesn't. Yeah.)

For those who don't know TWEWY at all ... a lot of my effort in the first chapter is to familiarize you with it as far as I can without spoiling too much. There's a lot of information in there at the beginning. PLEASE leave a comment if you're confused about anything and I'll try to explain it as best I can, and rework the chapter if I have to.

Thank you for reading.

**Phoenix Down**

It had only been a few weeks and the world was once again spinning off its axis, marked not by a bang or a hiss, but with the squawk of a duck, the crunch of sand as he was held back by his friend, and that friend's exhaultant laughing "hyuck."

Riku turned to the two of them with a smirk as Mickey raced over to keep Donald from running off to … What were they looking at?

He turned towards the line of their gaze, and the smile fell off his face. Not understanding his own reaction, his stomach twisted and rolled and his feet carried him forward and then stopped nearly as soon as he began.

_Sora. Kairi. _Sitting there in the distance on the paopu tree, hands in each other's, Kairi smiling. And Riku should have been smiling too, shouldn't he? They were alive and home and all should be right in the world, all his faith in Sora confirmed and realized and …

And then a tear rolled down Kairi's face, but her smile stayed. It was _that smile again._ That understanding, faithful, heartbreaking smile that Riku immediately recognized as Kairi's reluctant but supportive assertion that Sora had to do something he needed to do and, like it or not, she couldn't- wouldn't be able to- stand in his way.

In that same instant that Riku stepped forward again to break into a run, the very moment he opened his mouth to shout, Sora vanished, and Riku froze. Kairi's face, her strong mask shattered at the seams, her head stuttered to drop, and the only thing heard over ocean waves was a single choked cry. Shoulders shaking, she hunched over with her hands over her eyes, and Riku finally shook off his strange reaction and _ran._

"Kairi!"

Kairi startled, stood and spun. Riku skid to a halt in front of her and her shaking stopped. Her tears overflowed.

"Riku," she choked out, and Riku looked away, looked over to the shore, briefly noted the worried looks on their friends faces and silently thanked Mickey for sending them all off the beach and not racing up to the paopu trees. Meeting Kairi's eyes again and swallowing the anxious lump wedged in his throat, he felt relief slowly trudge through it.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said. She shook her head. Not okay, then. What now?

"Riku," she tried again, clenched her fists, squeezed her eyes shut. "Riku. Sora… " Eyes opened.

"Sora is _dead._"

It was like stopga, like the world had completely frozen at her words. No trees rustling, no waves crashing. _"What?" _he knew he said but couldn't hear it; there was no sound or light or color. Everything had a grey edge. "But I just saw him, what?" Her eyes widened and a mockery of a chuckle escaped her lips.

"That's amazing," she murmured. "You've always had a strong connection, but -" Kicking at the sand and biting her lip, she grimaced, then babbled, "I'm sorry he didn't have enough time to say goodbye to you; I know he would've if he could've-" Riku's hands shot out to grab her by the shoulders.

"Kairi!" he exclaimed very nearly desperately and resisted the urge to shake her. This couldn't be happening. Not Sora. Not …

Slowly - and too slowly because Riku needed answers the second the words 'dead' and 'Sora' were put together in a sentence - Kairi steeled herself and her eyes went hard.

"The lich," she said. "The lich got his heart. He … he abused the power of waking. To save all of us," she gulped. "Sora told me that Xehanort warned him. He warned him that the power of waking wasn't for traversing worlds to reach hearts. And when he went to save mine - Sora lost his connection to the world," she cried, "And now the darkness has him in the abyss, in. . . Riku, he-"

"NO!" Riku shouted vehemently, "No, Kairi. Don't say it again. He's not -" his hands dropped to his sides and became fists, "He can't be. Whatever it is we can get him back. I've saved him from something like this before. I can do it again." Kairi shook her head.

"He's not in the Sleeping Worlds this time, Riku. That's what you're talking about, right? Before my training? Master Yen Sid told me all about your Mark of Mastery exam. This is the next level, Riku. Sora's -"

"He's with the Reapers." Mickey said quietly and Kairi and Riku both startled, not having heard him approach. "In the Underground."

Kairi nodded. "That's where Sora found me. Without my memories. They _took_ my memories. We were together, but I didn't know who he was. And he," her voice hitched and cracked. "They took Sora's _faith_. His optimism. His light. He was so, so … God, he was a _shell._"

That was not Sora. That was beyond not Sora. His ability to see the good, the hope in every situation was unparalleled. . . It took a lot worse than Kairi losing memories to make Sora spiral out: these things, these Reapers, were _powerful._

Mickey turned to Riku. "These Reapers play a game with the dead. They take the things you value most as an entry fee and then make you play for a second chance at life. If you lose, they erase you from existence."

"That's sick!" Riku yelled, horrified, insides positively churning at even the thought. Sora didn't deserve that. No one deserved that.

"We made it through." Kairi whispered. "We won, if you can call it that. For seven days we played their game." she shuddered. "I still believed we could do it even though I couldn't remember why we were even trying. Even though Sora didn't want to try at all. Towards the end he let me know that he knew who I was. That I had been someone important to him. He explained what had happened to me… I really didn't remember him at all. It hurt him so badly."

It must've. Sora had essentially - and Riku still could barely even associate dead with Sora - but Sora had died to rescue her, had been stripped of his light, and she didn't even know who he was? Riku couldn't even imagine how painful that must have been.

"He was so sure everyone else probably had forgotten him too. He kept putting himself down - about what killed him and how he failed saving me. He talked about you a lot, Riku. Mostly doubting that he was missed by you or anyone."

Of course Riku had missed him! If he'd had any idea Sora was-

"God, it was the worst," Kairi continued. "We were almost erased on the sixth day. He just completely shut down. There was another team that finished the mission that day though, so we made it through." She looked down at the sand. "The final day the Game Master defeated the other team and they were erased. Sora just … snapped. He lost it. Even without my memories I knew it wasn't like him to get so … dark about it." she frowned. "The Game Master went down, and Sora just kept hitting him. It was horrible."

Riku staggered back a step, watched Kairi drop back down to sitting on the paopu tree, hands clutching the wood, nails digging into the bark.

"I pulled Sora off of him, got him to a bench to sit down. And then another man, the Conductor appeared, clapping his hands and congratulating us. Like this was all some fun little show," she looked away. "Then he gave us back our entry fee. . . and I remembered everything. Sora looked like he was going to be sick, he - you gotta have a light to really see the shadows, right?" Riku looked down and away, frowning.

"Anyway, I thought he was gonna. . . " she took a breath. "And then he just jumped up, and he was smiling so wide and I realized he hadn't the whole time he was there and-" she hiccupped, fresh tears rolling down her face. "He was so happy. Said: 'Kairi, we can go home!' and this _monster_ said all smugly 'Well, one of you can.'" Kairi slammed her fists down on the tree and rose in anger.

"Apparently there could only be one winner - and I was it." Shaking herself, her demeanor crumbled.

"And Sora barely even faltered. He just sat back down next to me and grabbed my hand. Told me he was glad. Asked me to say hello to everyone and that as long as he had us all in his heart he'd make it home to us . . ." she whispered. "I smiled. And I heard the beach-"

"And that's when I called out to you." Riku said and Kairi nodded. "But I saw Sora. I'm sure I did."

Mickey shook his head. "Sora wasn't here, Riku. You may have seen a glimmer through your connection, but no one on the beach even mentioned seeing Sora. Not even Donald or Goofy. They all only saw Kairi." Riku punched the tree with a backwards swing.

"But he still exists, right? He's-" Riku swallowed. "He's dead but he's not gone. He needs help. I have to- There's no way he's gonna get through this alone."

"How do you think you're going to help him, Riku?" Kairi asked in frustration. "You're not dead! This, this world is split in two - the Shibuya UG and the RG. Even if you made it there you'd end up in the Realground with the living. Only the dead can get in the Underground." Riku whirled around to face her.

"It's _Sora_, Kairi. I can find his heart. That shouldn't even be a problem. He had no problem finding mine." he said.

Mickey frowned. "But Riku, Xehanort was not lying about abusing the power of waking. You need to be careful or else you could end up meeting the same fate as Sora. If you end up dying, and _especially_ if you do in the process of trying to save him, I have no doubt Sora will go after you and the cycle will repeat itself - until you're both erased from existence." A short silence fell over them until broken by sandy shuffling feet.

"There's one more thing." Kairi said quietly, "I heard one more thing." She hesitated a moment, biting at her lips anxiously. "It could have been the wind, but I don't think it was … when Sora said that as long as he had us in his heart he could get home … I could have sworn I heard -" she frowned.

"I know I heard it. That guy, the Conductor, he said: '"It'd be a pity if you didn't.'"

"Then that's likely Sora's new entry fee." Mickey said sadly, eyes drooping. "That could mean one of two things - either they've taken his memories, or possibly worse, the connection that we all share."

"How is that worse? Aren't they the same thing?"

"No, Riku," Mickey replied. "You can have memories of a person without a connection, but not a connection with a person with no memories of them. It's a loophole so that they can take a double fee. If they've completely severed Sora's connection with you, with all of us, then he'll lose his memories too as an aftereffect. And that means-"

"No path to get to the world through his heart."

"RIght … unless you can find Joshua." Mickey murmured and Riku's eyes widened.

"Joshua?" Vaguely, Riku remembered him. "That kid from Traverse Town? The one in Sora's dream?"

Mickey nodded. "Uh huh! Shibuya is Joshua's original world. I don't know much about him, but he might just know what to do." Riku clenched his fist.

"Back in Traverse Town, Joshua was able to talk with both of us even though the world was split. He used a portal to go between. If I can get him to let me through …"

"You'll have to hurry, Riku." Kairi said quickly. "Before they start the next Reaper's Game. The Reapers really don't like winners, and if Sora's lost his memory he's going in blind … and you can't get through the walls without having a pact with another player …"

"Sora can make friends with a rock. I don't think he'd have a problem on that end. He'd find someone."

"Still." Kairi smiled. "It'd be better if it was you." Riku smirked.

Fondly, his smirk melted into a smile, "Was really starting to think you didn't want me to go."

"I don't." she replied, grin growing watery. "I couldn't imagine life without the both of you. I'm going to be worried to death. But it's Sora. Who could stop you?" Riku laughed, the smallest bundle of nerves in his gut subsiding.

"Only Sora probably. And he's not here. So." RIku turned to Mickey, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Oh, Riku." Mickey said sadly. "Please be careful. Don't underestimate anyone." Riku nodded and Mickey sighed in worried resignation.

"Then," Mickey put his hand to his own chest, clutching the fabric. "Let your heart be your guiding key."

Riku pulled out his keyblade.

Focusing on finding Joshua wasn't nearly as easy a way to find his world as Riku had hoped. Trying to get to any world he hadn't been before was always a somewhat difficult task, but searching for some kid's heart that he'd barely talked to before and had nearly zero connection to was almost impossible. By the time he landed he was absolutely exhausted. He must have been fighting for hours. But it was nighttime in the world where he landed, and that gave him some semblance of hope. If he was in the right place and it was still the same day that Kairi had left, he might still make it in time.

Grunting and getting to his feet, he gasped. This place was absolutely enormous; huge skyscrapers and thousands of lights - from windows to traffic signals - some blinking, all blurring out the sky.

Riku was seriously starting to get worried. How was he ever going to find Joshua in a place so ridiculously large?

And then there was a flash in the corner of his eye, and Riku felt the weight of his keyblade in his hands, felt his reflexive spin to cover his backside. He stopped mid turn and stumbled at the smirk on the face before him.

"Fancy seeing you here," cocky attitude and pale features greeted him, "Is your friend having another little nap?"

"Joshua." Riku said, awed and surprised. At least one part of this had been easy.

"Well?" Joshua smirked. "Not that it's not interesting to see you again …"

"Sora's dead." Riku blurted, and dammit he had not meant to say that so bluntly. Maybe his subconscious was going for the band-aid effect. Rip it off quickly and it doesn't hurt quite so badly. Surprisingly enough, Joshua just nodded.

"And I'm guessing he's here. That _is _a tough one. Should be okay though." he shrugged.

Riku watched, open mouthed as Joshua simply turned around, hands in his pockets, and started walking towards the portal he'd appeared from. Joshua must have heard - or not heard - any movement behind him, so he looked over his shoulder.

"Well? Are you coming or not?"

Riku hesitated for only a moment. He ignored the warning chant of "Too easy, Too easy, Too easy" barreling through his head.

And he followed.

The Underground seemed very nearly identical to the place Riku had just been, and if not for the chill and strange sense of emptiness in the air, he might have thought that nothing had changed.

Looking around briefly, Joshua then turned to face Riku, pulling a few objects from his pockets. "A few things," he said. "Take this pin. It marks you as a Player." Riku narrowed his eyes and Joshua rolled his. "You're _illegal_. Not dead, not bound to the rules. But you don't want _them _knowing that."

"The Reapers?" Riku asked and Joshua lifted an eyebrow.

"Or the other players. They need to believe you're just as desperate to win this game as anyone else." he laughed "Trust issues are pretty common down here. Sure you gotta start with a lie, but if they don't see that pin they're gonna assume you're a Reaper. Also, take this," he said, tossing Riku what looked like a rectangular block. At Riku's puzzled look, Joshua rolled his eyes. "It's a flip phone. You'll get your missions on it." he smirked "Players also get a timer burned into their hands, but you won't … so don't let any of them see. I highly suggest you play dumb about as much as you can. And don't start whipping out Keyblades. They're not going to help you here." Joshua tapped his chin. "I think that's about it. Good luck, then." Joshua began walking backwards to the portal and Riku reached out.

"Wait! I didn't get to . . . ask … you-" a sudden extreme lethargy came over him; Riku couldn't keep his eyes open, everything blurring and starting to fade.

He didn't feel the pavement when he hit it.

He _did_ feel the bump on his head when he woke up. Rubbing it absently and getting to his feet, Riku found himself impressed by the sheer amount of people walking around and a little disturbed by their robotic stagger down streets and through the scramble.

"Hey!" a voice shouted. Riku's head swiveled to his left, heart picking up pace.

_Sora._

"C'mon, somebody's gotta be able to hear me! Hello?" Definitely Sora. But where was he? There were just so many people and Sora was so … short. He scanned the crowd again. And again. And then, there! As long as those spikes didn't belong to a hedgehog or a houseplant, that had to be him, jumping up and down, trying to find someone who could see him.

Riku stood back for a little bit just to watch as Sora stomped around, climbed on cars, did backflips - anything to get someone to notice him. Sure it made Riku a bit of a jerk to leave Sora hanging like that, but he needed the moment to just take him in. He needed to see that it was still Sora, that Sora still existed and it was really and truly him.

Kairi proclaiming that Sora was gone, had died, would probably haunt him forever. The mere thought of it, especially while watching him, right now, running up in front of people with his tongue out and and his eyes crossed, getting inches away from people's faces trying to get a reaction - the idea that anything could kill a spirit so inherently _good_ was nothing less than absurd. Whether he would remember or even recognize Riku at all, it didn't matter. Riku had to make sure Sora remained in existence. Some lights were never meant to go out.

It was with that thought and at that moment that Sora appeared a hair's breadth away, his finger up his own nose, and his head tilted to the side. Riku's eyes widened in surprise, and immediately after Sora's did too, both jumping away from each other in embarrassment.

"YOU!" Sora said accusingly. "You can see me!"

Riku felt like he had missed a stair, like the world had fallen out beneath him. He didn't know why, but he hadn't quite expected this to hurt so much, here his lifelong friend standing in front of him with absolutely zero affection in his eyes. Not a glimmer of recognition. There should be a hug here, or at least an excited "RIKU!", but there was nothing. Is this how Sora had felt his first time around when Kairi didn't remember him? This was so screwed up - and so much worse than last time Riku had to save Sora from some villain's scheme to destroy him from within.

"You…" Sora said more quietly this time, unsure, "You _can_ see me? Right?"

Riku bit back the urge to call him an idiot. Not the time for their normal teasing, especially because right now there was no "they" in their friendship. Best not to alienate him before he could help him. God was he going to have to walk on eggshells with _Sora_? Sora was the one person Riku was used to being entirely himself with! But later. He could think about this later.

"I can see you." Riku said as calmly as he was able, and Sora's eyes lit up like Riku had just hung the moon. Riku barely held back a gasp - he'd received that look before, so many times, and he never realized he had taken it for granted until now.

"Oh man, that's great!" Sora said. "I was beginning to think I was a ghost!" Grinning wide and scratching the back of his head he turned to Riku. "So, this place is weird, huh? Oh!" He looked away in embarrassment. "Sorry. I'm Sora and um ... can't tell you much more than that, but, nice to-"

"Riku." Riku interrupted. God, he did not want to do introductions. And Sora's ghost comment. Jesus.

"Riku." Sora repeated, head cocked to the side and eyeing Riku thoughtfully, "Riku." In a motion Riku probably should have expected, Sora reached up to Riku's face, squeezed his cheek, and pulled. "Yeah! You have a good face, Riku. I'll trust you." Sora smiled wide and tugged on Riku's cheek harder.

"Okay!" Riku half laughed, half yelped in pain. "Okay, Sora. Now, stop it!"

Sora released him, eyes still glittering.

"Huh." Is all he said.

Moments later, that "Huh," was followed by "Ow! What the-" and a beep from two phones.

Sora flexed is fingers in and out, staring at his palm in confusion - a crimson, jagged numbered counter reading 59:59 ticking down upon it. Riku grabbed his phone out of his pocket, read the message, and frowned deeply. Gently, he grasped Sora's shoulder and put the phone screen in his view.

**_Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. - The Reapers_**

It had begun.


	2. Chapter 2

Phoenix Down

Chapter 2

**Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. - The Reapers**

"So, um, what the -" Sora looked up at Riku, looked at Riku's hand on his shoulder questioningly, and frowned. "Uh, what's going on?"

Cringing a bit, an awkward uncomfortable twist rolling through his insides, Riku removed his hand and took a step away from Sora. He'd forgotten himself and the situation, didn't even think that to Sora, right now, Riku was a total stranger. All of their years of friendship had made gestures like that a casual thing, and now, without that history on Sora's end it was -

"Riku? Hello?" Sora asked, "This thing on my hand? Know anything?"

Oh. Oh, the timer. Of course Sora had been freaking out about the timer. Not Riku and his hands or this horrible situation. Sora didn't know anything _about_ this situation.

"It's … complicated." Riku said.

"Well, mind uncomplicating it? Because 'erasure' doesn't sound like something I want to do today." Sora sassed.

Riku frowned. No, he didn't want Sora erased today either. But there definitely wasn't enough time to explain everything, not with that ticking horror glowing on his best friend's hand.

"This world that we're in, there's this game." he said slowly, "You get, well, you get quests. And if you fail, you get erased," he took a breath, "from existence."

Sora just stared at Riku for a moment.

And Riku somehow expected a freak out. That Sora, in a strange world, not knowing anyone or anything about anything, sent a threatening message with an honest to god penalty of annihilation, might panic a little.

Certainly not, "Isn't that the building right over there? That's a dumb quest."

Riku raised an eyebrow, and Sora continued, "What? It's a five minute walk!" Rolling his his eyes, Sora stepped forward. "You coming? Don't wanna be late."

Incredible. Absolutely incredible.

Sighing, Riku fell into step.

"Really shouldn't complain that things are easy. That's when they -" he stopped abruptly, swinging his arm to halt Sora. Of course. Never that easy. "See?" he said, pointing. "Electric monster frogs! You had to complain!"

Sora tilted his head. "Ah, I dunno. They're kinda cute. Maybe they're nice electric frogs - OW!" Obnoxiously zapped by one, he sprinted out of the way. "Man! Where's a good stick when you need one?"

Riku swore, his keyblade materializing in his hand.

"Whoa!" Sora said. "Nice stick!"

Riku rolled his eyes. "Really?" he said.

He took it back. Incredible? No.

Sora was an idiot.

But at least he was _here_. Not alive, not well, not in the best of places - but he was here by his side. And that gave Riku hope.

Riku swung at the frogs, missing the first shot and connecting on the second with a 'thunk' and a burst of light that sent him flying backwards and into Sora, then down onto the ground with him in a tangled heap.

Maybe he wasn't quite so smart himself. Joshua _had_ said Keyblades wouldn't work. It was easy to see that the frogs were completely unscathed, and while it had been worth the shot either way, they weren't letting up. Time for plan B.

"We're going to have to run," Riku said, ears ringing but otherwise fine, he picked himself up, "At least get somewhere away from these things til we know how to fight them." Sora nodded, getting to his feet.

"There," he said, pointing to a brightly lit shop, "Better than out in the open."

"Right." Riku nodded.

It took barely a minute to get inside the shop and slam the door behind them, but it seemed to work. The frogs didn't seem to be following them. Looking around, it felt strange that no one had noticed them enter the building. There were shoppers all around, cashiers talking with customers, but not a single one even batted an eyelash as he and Sora stormed through the door.

"Your phone is ringing." Sora said between catching his breath and tapping on a display case, and Riku startled, embarrassed for not having heard. Damn frogs and their shockwaves. It took him only a moment longer to realize that the ringing wasn't coming from the flip phone either. Which meant -

Patting his pockets frantically, he found the source of the sound and pulled it out, Sora behind him folding his arms over his chest. "Why do you get two phones?" he said indignantly, "And that one looks way cooler. Lemme -"

"Wait! Just -" Riku said. Holding on so tightly to the Gummiphone he might have broken the casing while wrestling back Sora's curious reach, he pushed the button to answer and held his breath. When red hair and blue eyes looked back at him, he nearly cried out in relief. Kairi looked to be feeling the same.

"Riku!" she shouted with a smile, and Riku felt the corners of his mouth tick up. If it was caused by the sight of recognition on a friends face or the knowledge that he had someone who might have answers, he wasn't sure. It really didn't matter.

The joy didn't last long.

"Is that your girlfriend or something?" Sora asked innocently, leaning over to view the screen.

Kairi's face morphed into something Riku couldn't even begin to parse out, though he knew that look had been on his face as well at one point very, very recently.

"You found -" she shook her head, steeled herself. "Update me." She said firmly.

Riku silently thanked the heavens for Kairi and her strength at that moment, knowing only through the course of their long friendship that she was barely keeping herself together. Turning himself and the phone out of Sora's view, he ignored the huff of annoyance Sora expelled as he turned to go poke at more of the store's merchandise.

"Yeah. He's . . . It's Sora, all right," he said softly in a relieved way that brought a little smile to Kairi's face, and she nodded in empathetic understanding.

"Are you okay?" she asked, "This can't be easy."

Riku breathed out a sad little chuckle. "It's not. He's - Mickey was right about his memories. He called my Keyblade a stick!" he said in exasperation, and Kairi's mouth quirked but her eyes never changed from her concern. "And- and the way he looks at me, or the way he _doesn't_, it's-" he shook his head. "It's unnerving."

"He'll make it up to you." Kairi said confidently, and Riku's heart leapt at her words. Kairi smiled. "He's going to be so angry at himself when you two get through this, and then he's going to give you one of those big Sora hugs and apologize even though it isn't his fault he forgot us."

"Kairi …" Riku murmured, awestruck. Kairi shrugged.

"It's Sora. And it's you." She said, like it was the most obvious thing in all the worlds, like their success was something inevitable.

Riku must have had an odd look on his face, because Kairi laughed a little. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing." he shook his head, fond. "Nothing. Just - thank you."

"Anytime, Riku. Now. Update? Maybe I can help?"

Riku nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, so I found Joshua. He brought me through the portal, gave me a Player pin and a phone, and absolutely no explanation of anything." He sighed. "There's these frogs that the Keyblade bounces off of and Sora's got a timer going -"

"How long do you have?" Kairi interrupted urgently.

"Probably about 30, 35 minutes ..."

"Probably? You mean you don't have a-"

"No." Riku replied, looking around to see if anyone had heard. Sora was off at the other end of the shop peeking through the hole in some guy's ear piercing. "No. I don't have a timer. I'm an illegal player, Joshua said, so -"

"You have a Player pin though. You're not defenseless if you can use pins," she said thoughtfully. "Have you made a pact yet? Because the Noise, those frogs, shouldn't be coming after you if you have." Riku frowned. She had mentioned this pact thing before, something about it helping to get through walls, but at the time he'd been only half listening. "You have to make a pact with Sora, Riku. It has to be verbal and it's binding." She nodded, serious, "If one of you goes down, the other does too. It's a partnership." she paused, looked away, then shook her head. "The Player pin can scan for the Noise, and it lets you hear the thoughts of the living. You can manipulate those a little bit, or more, put ideas in their heads -"

"That's … awkward." Riku said, and Kairi grimaced.

"It is, a bit. It's more for things like reminding someone they need to go pick up an item or helping them to say the right thing or coaxing them in the right direction." she said "More importantly right now though, are the Psychs: The powers you draw from pins. Those are what you need to fight the Noise. Sora's probably still got some from last time, but I doubt he remembers anything," she gulped, her calm facade finally cracking, "about them."

"Kairi … I'm going to fix this." he said with soft, quiet determination. He wished he could think of something more to say to her. Sora and Kairi had always been the best at that sort of thing. Now that it was his turn to try he was left feeling completely inadequate.

Kairi just smiled then, to Riku's surprise. "I know." she said, and then repeated more confidently, "I know."

Riku would never be able to understand his friend's faith in him, especially considering his track record, but he was grateful. Maybe someday he might feel like he deserved it.

He chanced a glance at Sora.

Sora had stopped his running around and was staring at his hand's timer with a contemplative look on his face, raising his gaze to the 104 building just outside of the window, just a little way away.

"Sora." he whispered to himself. God, He was standing right _there_ and Riku missed him. He tried to shake off the feeling as best he could.

Loud enough to get his attention, Riku repeated, "Sora." And Sora looked over, clenching his fist. "Can we talk to you a sec?" Sora blinked, flexed his fingers a few times and looked back at his hand.

"Gotta make it quick," he said, showing his palm: 27 minutes. Crap.

He huddled next to Riku, but not nearly as closely as Riku was accustomed to, and turned to the phone. Kairi managed a weak smile and Sora lifted a hand in a hesitant hello. Licking his lips and swallowing his discomfort, Riku turned to him.

"How much do you remember?" he asked, and Sora recoiled, pulling a bit further away.

"How do you know I-" Sora started. Searching Riku's eyes with his own and furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, he slowly composed himself. "I - I woke up in the middle of the street this morning. And . . . I couldn't remember how I had gotten there. Or much of anything else, really. My name. Some places, but none of the people in them. Fruit."

"Fruit?" Riku asked incredulously, "Wait, paopu?"

"Maybe? Star shaped … a tree … a beach?" he paused and Riku stared at him, the air feeling like it had been sucked out of the world. The islands. Sora remembered the islands. And … paopu.

"Sora," Riku said, tapping at the screen urgently, "Do you remember _her?_ Even a little -"

Sora shook his head.

"No." he said firmly, "Why should I?" and Riku felt horribly, wincing as Kairi's choked gasp echoed overloud in the quiet. That had sounded harsh even to _his _ears; Riku hadn't thought that through at _all. _Dammit. He hadn't meant to hurt her.

"Should I though?" Sora said, second guessing himself, and then he stood abruptly. "Wait. Do _you guys _know me?"

"I-" Riku paused, composed himself, "Yes," he said, and pensively watched Sora's face go through shock, fear, happiness, betrayal, "Sora -"

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked in disbelief, "Why would you just -"

"Because this whole - because this - " Riku sputtered, and then snapped, "because you're my best friend, Sora, and I don't know what to even _think_ because you don't even know _me!" _he roared, felt tears springing to his eyes, and god dammit he couldn't do this right now. He couldn't afford to break right now. There wasn't _time._

Sora just looked at him sadly, his hand moving forward like he was going to put it on Riku's shoulder, like he might've before - when he was _whole_ \- with Riku being so upset. But he hesitated. "I'm sorry, Riku." he said, "I wish - I wish I could. You seem to care about me a whole lot. It's just - I got nothing."

It was then that Riku noticed the timer on Sora's hand. 21 minutes. 43 seconds. Counting. There was no time for this. As much as he wanted to have this talk, there would be no talking if they lost this stupid, horrible game.

"Sora," Riku said, "We need to get to 104."

Sora pulled back his hand and stared at it, shaking himself of whatever was going through his head.

"The pact, Riku." Riku jumped. He'd briefly forgotten that Kairi was still on the line.

"Right." he said. "Sora, we gotta agree to a pact. To work together. Or we're -"

Sora didn't even seem to think about it. "I accept." he said. "Of course. But we need to talk about all of," he waved his hands to the phone and to Riku, "all of this later."

Riku felt something in the air change then, like a warm wind had swirled through the building. Sora must've felt it too, because his eyes widened marginally and he whipped his head over to the 104 building.

"Let's go."

The frogs didn't reappear. And Kairi's information that the pact was necessary for more than that was confirmed with Sora running into an invisible wall.

"Ow! What the-" Sora shouted from his place on the pavement, getting to his feet just as fast and rubbing his aching rear end.

Stifling some nervous laughter, Riku asked, "What happened?"

"There's something here blocking the way," Sora pouted, "The building's right there, but-" he poked the invisible barrier and it rippled like a raindrop in a pond. Behind them, a man in a red jacket muttered.

"Pact confirmed."

Riku spun towards the sound of the voice and barely caught sight of the red jacketed person before he vanished. Sora yelped, falling through the now vanished barrier and again onto his ass.

"This place is the best, Riku," he muttered gloomily. "Let's stay here forever."

"Let's not." Riku replied, and offered a hand to help Sora up. Sora looked at it for a moment, then took it, holding on a little longer than absolutely necessary when he'd gotten himself upright.

"Heh," he laughed, "Bet I used to be much more awesome before all this." he said, pulling his hand out of Riku's and rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"Nope." Riku said matter of fact, affection winning over decorum, "You've always been an idiot."

"Hey!" Sora shouted indignantly, and it was so familiar, so _normal_ that Riku felt tears threaten in the corners of his eyes. "I thought you said I was your best friend! That's so _rude, _Riku!"

Riku just chuckled and shook his head, then gestured up the street. He could do this. He could absolutely do this. Sora was still Sora no matter what.

Sora huffed and took the lead, stomping up the next block to stand in front of the 104 building. Holding his palm in front of his face and then out towards Riku, he smiled. The timer was gone.

Riku breathed a sigh of relief. Day one down. One step closer to home.

"Well then," Sora said, milling around for a place to sit. Settling on the stairs at the side of 104, Sora asked, "What now?"

Riku shrugged. "Don't know. Wait til the next message, I guess."

Sora hummed, looking at the sky and kicking his feet. "You know," he said quietly, apropos of nothing, "It's really weird not having a memory." he frowned, pausing. Riku waited patiently.

"It's like, I can feel that it's gone, and I know I want it back, but I don't know why. I don't know what I'm missing. I wonder why I care so much."

Riku shrugged, motioning for Sora to move over so he could sit next to him. He did. "You've always had a heart too big for your head," he said. "That's why."

Sora laughed. "Really?"

Riku smiled, nudging Sora in the side with his elbow. "Really."

"Huh." he said. "So, tell me something, Riku. How about that girl? With the red hair? She's someone important too, right?"

"Kairi. Her name is Kairi," he said softly.

"Kairi." Sora smiled. "She seems nice." Riku huffed out a laugh.

"She is. We all grew up together, on that island you remember. With the tree. And the fruit."

"Why do I remember that stupid fruit and not you? Or her?" he said despondently. Riku sighed.

"It's kind of a special fruit. Well, the girls seem to believe it, anyway. You did too, I think." Sora looked at him in confusion, so he continued, "They say if you share it your destinies become intertwined forever. It's the island legend -"

"Did we? You and me? Share one?" Sora asked innocently and Riku nearly whacked his head on the handrail as he startled. Blushing fiercely and looking away, he replied,

"N-no! I mean … no." he stuttered. "But you and Kairi did," he recovered and regretted it instantly.

"So is she _my _girlfriend then?" he asked, and Riku didn't know how to answer, except honestly.

"I don't know." he said carefully, "You didn't really ever say anything outright, but you've always cared a lot about her." Riku shrugged and looked away, absolutely unable to look him in the eye. "I guess I always kinda assumed that's the way things would end up."

"Huh." Sora said again, hand coming up to rub absently over his heart, "That doesn't - that doesn't feel right, though. For some reason."

Riku couldn't help the surprised uptick of his face or the weird warm hope that swelled in his gut. This was stupid. He was stupid. Down hope. Get down. Sora didn't even know what he was talking about. And poor Kairi. Really, it wasn't fair to her at all to even be entertaining this conversation right now.

Sora yawned beside him, a great, over exaggerated thing, and Riku huffed out a chuckle. Mirth stopped rather abruptly when Riku turned to actually look at Sora: a confused frown on his face and his eyes far more heavy than they should've been. "So … tired all of a-" he began, but didn't finish, collapsing bonelessly into Riku's arms, head lolling on Riku's shoulders.

"SORA!" Riku panicked, shaking him by his shoulders. Nothing. Nothing nothing nothing. "Hey! Sora! C'mon!"

"Oh he's just sleeping like a good little Player," a voice said, vaguely and oddly familiar, "Give the kid a break."

Riku put himself bodily in front of Sora, careful he didn't hit his head on the concrete even through his haste, and spun to look at the source of the mocking voice.

A voice coming from an Organization cloak.

"You though," he said, and Riku grit his teeth, "You aren't sleeping like a good little Player. Why is that, I wonder?" he laughed, "Ah, who am I kidding. I know who you are and how you're here. The Composer filled me in on all of that already."

Riku narrowed his eyes, "The Composer?"

"Duh. The head guy, the big boss, the one who's putting Mister Darky Keyblade Conductor killer over there through this whole second shot at getting out of here."

"Conductor killer? Dark?" Riku frowned. "Sora? What?"

The cloaked figure shrugged. "So many questions! Your friend there didn't take too kindly to being told we were gonna sever his connections to everyone he ever loved for some reason. Went all smokey and ragey. Killed the last guy." He sighed, and pulled down his hood.

"Demyx?" Riku staggered in surprise.

"Then _I _had to do it. Talk about a hassle. And a mess. Kid puked on my sitar! At least someone's taking me seriously for once, though. So there's that." Demyx quirked an eyebrow. "You okay there, Riku? Getting a little … dark and stormy there -"

Riku growled, enraged, "I will _end you._" he roared, keyblade materializing.

"Uh-uh. Wouldn't do that if I were you. Not here to fight, just doing my job: the brand new Conductor! The messenger! Of good things!"

"You have got to be kidding me." Riku said coldly, "You just said it was you that did this to Sora. To _me._ You must be a special kind of stupid. No wonder the Organization benched you."

"Aw, you heard about that?" Demyx whined, "Must've been Saïx … or Axel? Doesn't matter - OW!" Demyx's eyes widened, rubbing his arm and scuttling back as Riku brought his keyblade back in front of him in defensive position. "Seriously? Ow!"

"Looks like these still work on _you_, Demyx." Riku said cruelly, hefting his blade again.

"Dammit, I didn't want to have to do this like this." Demyx muttered, and before Riku could even react, Demyx had flashed behind him - in between himself and Sora. Demyx grabbed and hefted Sora over his shoulder before opening his mouth again, "Will you listen now?"

Panic lit Riku's eyes, his keyblade shaking in his hand. "Make it quick," he said, "If you hurt him -"

Demyx rolled his eyes, jumping up and down a little and Riku watched as it jostled Sora but didn't waken him. "See?" Demyx said, "He can't feel a thing," he smirked, "I could literally shoot bubbles in his ear hole and he wouldn't wake up- wanna see?"

"NO! Dammit, Demyx. Leave him alone. I'll hear you out."

"Good." he sighed, "See, I would've been awesome at this if the Organization would've let me do anything. Their loss is the Composer's gain, I guess." He hefted Sora to his other shoulder and Riku flinched. "Really did a number on my arm there. Damn."

"Get on with it." Riku deadpanned.

"Right. So, like I said, good news. Apparently you two have earned a shorter sentence. Bossman said you've already proven a few things somehow, sometime, something or another but there's one thing he needs to test you on before he releases you back into existence." Demyx held up a finger to stop Riku who'd opened his mouth to speak. "Nuh uh. I'm talking. My time to shine. So, because you two are, well, _you, _and we're only doing the two more days - that's right! Just two more- these aren't going to be some normal tasks like what is normally done down here. It's going to be hard. It's going to suck, probably. No breaking simple curses or helping school girls get over their differences for you! Oh no!" Demyx grinned widely, casually striding up to Riku and _tossing_ Sora at him. Riku scrambled to catch him, clinging onto him protectively.

Demyx narrowed his eyes. "RULES!" he said. "Absolutely, positively, no keyblades. Break that one and -" he snapped his fingers, "Instant oblivion - so, drop it, Green Eyes. Just the Pins. Better learn how to use them _real _quick."

"TWO!" he shouted, holding up a couple of fingers on both hands, "That extra phone of yours? _Gone._ You get _one _call in the morning if you choose to use it. And that's it. Choose wisely. Because it won't work after his day two timer starts," he smirked.

"And THREE, and this is very, very important here - if you fail, Riku, not only will Sora be erased, but you'll get upgraded to a Reaper. And spend eternity down here, doing the same thing, playing the same game with other people." Riku narrowed his eyes. Like hell he would. If Sora went down - every single one of these Reapers would be going down with him. He'd make sure of that.

"One more thing." Demyx said cooly, "You can also choose to end the game right here, right now."

"Wha-what?" Riku stuttered, tightening his hold on Sora.

"Drop him. I'll open a portal. You can leave. One time offer." he smiled, "Of course if you do, your little boyfriend there will be erased. But you'll be perfectly free." Riku bristled.

"Free." Riku said incredulously, "_Free?_ You've really never loved anyone in your life, have you Demyx? You really think I could ever just leave Sora down here to - You must be out of your mind!"

"You know he's going to choose that little red head, right?" Demyx said coldly.

That. That stung. He didn't want it to, never wanted to be feeling any sort of anything negative for Kairi, but it was there. He would deal with it though. If that was Sora's choice, he'd find a way. Much better that Sora might be happy with Kairi than dead. For sure.

"You know that little red head is also one of my best friends, right?" Riku volleyed back. "You can stop the manipulation tactics now, Demyx. I'm staying with Sora."

Demyx shrugged.

"Suit yourself then." he said, "Nighty night."

The world started to tilt and wobble, and Riku tried to keep his eyes open, to fight, but it was no use. Using his last conscious thought and action to make sure that Sora didn't hit the ground any harder than he could help, Riku fell into unconsciousness.

_**Day One Complete.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Phoenix Down

Chapter 3 - Day Two

The first thing Riku noticed when he woke was that he was warm. Really warm. Like someone had draped a nice heavy blanket over him after he'd passed out last night. He cracked his eyes open a bit in confusion, and what he saw took everything in him not to startle. Not a blanket at all. Of course it wasn't.

Sora, and a very awake Sora at that, seemed to be finding Riku's jacket extremely interesting. Head on Riku's chest, eyebrows furrowed and looking like he was thinking far harder than he probably was, Sora watched his own hand as he poked at the snaps on Riku's jacket in an absent minded sort of way.

Riku closed his eyes again, registered that what was supporting his head wasn't a pillow but Sora's arm, and that one of his legs had one of Sora's pinned beneath it.

Well, he _had_ collapsed holding onto Sora, after all. So that, at least, made sense. What didn't was that Sora had woken before him and hadn't made a move to pull away. Not that he was necessarily complaining, and he was kind of guilty of taking advantage of the situation himself right now, but-

Sora, as he was now, didn't really even _know_ Riku. And Sora, as Riku _did _know him, had never done anything like this before with him.

Riku knew he should open his eyes. Let Sora know he was awake.

He waited another full minute before he did.

"Sora," he said, and Sora's hand froze, gaze meeting his in a quick upward movement, "What are you doing?"

Watching in fascination as Sora's face colored, as he awkwardly pulled his arm off of Riku's chest and bit his lip nervously, Riku smirked.

"Don't worry about it," Riku said, trying to brush off the situation for Sora's sake, "A lot happened last night, and the Conductor put me out while I was holding onto you." he laughed, "You really can sleep through anything, can't you?"

Sora sat up indignantly, pulling his other arm from behind Riku's head with the motion, and Riku, still amused, sat up as calmly as he could manage. "I, I was just making sure you were still breathing!" Sora said quickly, flustered. "And- and I was comfortable. So I-" he frowned and shook his head. "Ugh, I'm so confused. I barely even know you, and yet. . ."

Riku winced at the reminder.

"It's like my head and my heart are both saying different things."

"Guess we're on the same page." Riku said without thinking, and the confused frown on Sora's face grew deeper. Cursing himself and backtracking a bit, he continued, "We were _close_, Sora. Grew up together, fought a war together, saved each others lives. Maybe that's what your heart is telling you."

Sora didn't look convinced. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe."

"Look, once we beat this game and get you your memories back it'll all be clearer." Riku offered.

Sora sighed. "Sure hope so. I mean, I don't even know how I got here! Why are we even stuck playing this stupid game?" Riku opened his mouth to speak. Closed it again. Looked away.

"You know!" Sora said accusingly, getting to his feet. "Stop hiding things from me! I'm not gonna break! How weak do you think I-"

"You died!" Riku blurted. His voice cracked and softened. "You died, Sora. Trying to save Kairi."

"I . . . what?" Sora breathed, drew his hand up over his own heart. "I'm dead? How-"

Sora shook his head in denial. "Kairi. The girl in your phone. The, the paopu girl? _Why?" _

"Because you loved her, Sora." Riku said gently, "And she'd been cut down right in front of you. She died, but you were determined to get her back anyway." he sighed, "And I believed you could do it, convinced everyone that you could. Because you're you. And you pull off miracles as often as you smile - and usually that's a hell of a lot, even during the most dire of circumstances. You went off, by yourself, and died trying. But that didn't stop you either." Riku smiled sadly. "You did it. You saved her. She's alive and she's home. She told me all about it." he breathed, "This place we're in, the Underground, it's a world for the dead. You were right earlier, when you first saw me here. You're basically a ghost, Sora."

Sora's frown morphed into wide eyed horror, coming to some sort of conclusion that Riku wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"Wait. Wait Riku - If she told you, and you're _here, _and only the dead are here. . ." Sora looked like he was going to be sick. "Riku, you _didn't. . ._"

Riku shook his head quickly, frantically. "No! No, no way. I wouldn't ever - not if there was another way to get you out of here." he took a deep breath. "I knew there had to be a way to save you and I found someone who could let me into the Underground. I'm not dead."

"Riku …" Sora murmured, and Riku had to think back on what he'd just said because Sora wasn't looking at him like someone who was concerned about themself. And given what Riku had just told him, he should have been, right? "Riku." Sora said again, his eyes going steely, and Riku flinched back. "If there hadn't been another way. You - I'm not worth that. I'd want you to let me go." Riku opened his mouth to speak, and Sora shook his head. "Don't pull that 'I don't know what I'm talking about crap.' My head's screwed up, but my heart is clear. Don't ever, purposely-"

"Isn't that a little hypocritical? You died for _Kairi._"

"Did I go out _planning_ to die?"

Riku clamped his mouth shut. If he hadn't found Joshua, would he have … would he have gone that extra step to get to the Underground? Would he have let that much darkness consume him in order to save Sora?

He honestly didn't know for sure. The fact that he was leaning towards 'Yes' terrified him more than a little.

Sora had turned his back to him, running his hands through his hair erratically. Riku walked up to him and grabbed one of his wrists to halt him.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm lucky." Sora said suddenly, a huge smile blooming on his face. "Most people, almost everyone really, when they die there's no magic place to go to where you can get a shot at coming back. They're just dead. They're gone and separated from their friends and family forever." he sobered a bit, looking at Riku. "You won't know what will happen when you die. There's a good chance you won't be as lucky, and that there'll be no way to bring you back. So you can't chance it." he affirmed. "Please don't ever chance it, Riku."

Riku nodded in wide eyed amazement. How did Sora do it? He always found the light in everything, always was able to say exactly what he needed someone to get through to him at just the moment he needed to hear it. Even with parts of him missing, Sora managed to pull it off. "I won't purposely go somewhere my important people shouldn't follow." he said, slowly releasing Sora's wrist, "But," he continued, "You need to take your own advice too, Sora. Your optimism and confidence has always outweighed your common sense. Up 'til now, everytime you've said that everything was going to be fine and you'd make it through and save the day, I believed you. Because it was true. It always was." Riku sighed. "You're not definitely going to get 'lucky' like this again, okay? Kairi didn't want you to die for her after she died, and I-" he paused. "You did it for me, too. During the war. Brought me back. And I'm glad I'm alive and here right now to help you, but I was okay with dying to protect you too."

Sora's eyes softened, and he held out his hand. "No more running off to my death to save the dead. Just living to protect the living. Yeah?"

Riku took his hand and shook it. "I'm gonna hold you to this when you get your memories back too." he said, "No going back on it when you remember how much your oversized heart loves everyone."

"Deal." Sora said firmly, tightening his hold on Riku's hand momentarily, and then releasing it.

"Alright then, we'd better get going on getting out of here, then." Riku said.

"Right," Sora agreed. "So what did I miss?"

Riku sighed. "A lot, and none of it good. The Conductor is someone we've both dealt with before. The name Demyx ring any bells?" Sora shook his head. "Okay. Okay, so the Composer went and assigned Demyx as the Conductor. And if I could use my Keyblade to take him out, that wouldn't be a problem at all. He's a pushover."

Sora frowned. "Why can't you?"

"The rules have changed. I even take the Keyblade out, it's instant game over. We both get erased. Instantly." he clenched his fist. "We gotta figure out those Pins - Kairi said you have some-"

Sora patted his pockets. "Yeah," he replied, pulling out a handful. "Guess I do."

Riku looked at the pile and smiled, "Awesome. We can have Kairi explain things a little better - uh"

"What is it?"

"That's the other thing from last night. I only get one more call from the Gummiphone- and I really need to talk with King Mickey and maybe Axel, too."

"Who?"

Riku sighed, reality getting more depressing by the moment. "They're friends. Mickey knows a lot about just about everything, and what he doesn't know he's really good a finding out. I want to pick his brain about Joshua. He- he's the guy that helped me get here, but I can't shake this - I don't know. There's something in the way that he was able to get me here so easily." Riku shook his head. "And Axel might know more about Demyx that we may need to know, as well as how deep the Organization involvement is. Probably not too bad, but I still don't trust all of them." Seeing the baffled look on Sora's face, he sighed. "The Organization is a story that'll take too long to tell, just, they were the other side of the war. Most of them were defeated and some of them were willing to help us out in the end."

"If only we could send them a message, get them all in one spot." Sora murmured, and Riku froze, eyes widening.

"Demyx said one _call._ He didn't say anything about -" Riku said, pulling out the Gummiphone and typing quickly:

**Riku: **Kairi- Rules changed. Only get one more call. Get Mickey and Axel and call me asap.

The response came almost immediately. Sora huddled in to see.

**Kairi: **Thank god! You made it through the day! I was so worried about you guys.

**Kairi: **I'm on it. Axel's with Roxas down at the beach, and Mickey and I have been going through some things you definitely need to know.

**Riku: **Great. Kinda urgent, so hurry. Gummiphone isn't going to work anymore once Sora gets his timer, and it could come anytime.

**Kairi:** ?

"She really is something, huh?" Sora said from Riku's side, and Riku smiled.

"She is." he said. "They all are."

"So." Sora said, eyes gleaming. "Wanna play with these pins while we wait?" he asked, but didn't wait for an answer. Grabbing one at random and activating it, a car rose up in the air from off the street and flew into a tree. They both cringed. "Oops." Sora said.

Riku grabbed the pin out of his hands and stuck it on his jacket, narrowing his eyes. "Wait for Kairi." he said flatly, and Sora put his hand behind his head and laughed nervously.

"Aw, you're no fun." he said, and the Gummiphone rang. "That was fast."

Riku smiled. "That's Kairi for you," he said as he answered it.

"Riku. Sora. It's really good to see you," she managed to get out before she was nearly knocked over by Donald and Goofy trying to see the screen. Thankfully, Mickey stepped in and sent them out of the way.

"Who the -" Sora began and Riku shook his head and put a finger over his mouth.

"Friends." he said, "But it's better not to get Donald squawking or we'll never get what we need out of this call."

"HEY!" They heard from offscreen. "I _heard _that!"

Kairi giggled. "They'll never change." Riku nodded with a grin.

"Hey, c'mon. Totally left out of the joke here." Sora said with a huff.

"Sorry." Riku said, patting Sora on the head in mock consolation. Sora scowled.

"Well, you two are getting along just as well as ever." Axel voiced from behind Kairi, and Kairi rolled her eyes.

"We can't all be cuddling on the beach, eating ice cream, _Lea._" She said, and Axel turned a shade of red almost matching his hair.

"It's not like that!" he said, holding up his hands. From offscreen Roxas snorted, with an eye roll that could practically be heard: "Oh shut it, Axel. Of course it is."

Riku blinked, surprised. Then he smiled. "Took you two long enough." Axel raised an eyebrow.

"You're _really_ not in a position to talk, Ri-" Kairi quickly covered his mouth and glared at him.

"Not a good time," she said simply. "Anyway," she turned back to the screen. "What's new with you two?"

Riku sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "Lots of stuff." he said. "So, we ran into Demyx -"

"Wha! That loser?" Axel laughed, "That's not a problem. Could take that little shit out with a rubber band and a popsicle stick."

Riku smirked. "Usually, yeah. Except he's been powered up and ranked up and can permadeath both me and Sora with a word from the Composer."

Kairi's eyes widened, horrified. "He's the Conductor."

"Why on earth would Joshua give Demyx that much power?" Mickey said, aghast, and Riku gaped at him.

"_Joshua?_" Riku spat out in shock, "Joshua is the _Composer?_"

Mickey sighed. "Yes. I didn't know when I sent you looking for him, and for that I'm sorry. I believe I may have led you into a trap," shaking his head sadly, he continued, "I managed to find Neku yesterday - he played the game for quite some time - and he told me quite a bit about his experience."

Riku turned to Sora, who shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I don't know the guy." Riku said. "Think he was on Sora's side of the dream in Traverse Town if he was there at all-" Mickey nodded.

"He was. From what he said about Traverse Town, on his end it didn't happen in reality at all - it was more of a dream for him and his friends." Mickey paused. "He said that Joshua was definitely the Composer in the Shibuya Underground, though. Joshua is - he's a sort of examiner of human nature." Mickey frowned. "I'm thinking something about Sora interested him enough to want to examine him more thoroughly."

Riku narrowed his eyes, "So he took advantage of Sora's death to do it."

"That seems to be his way of doing things, yes. Neku had it worse to be honest. Joshua actually shot him in order to get him into his game. And then used him to play on his side against a bet he had with his Conductor at the time." Mickey sighed. "Joshua was ready to destroy Shibuya entirely and gave the Conductor a month to prove that Shibuya was worth saving. The Conductor's timer ran out. Neku was given a gun as a final game task, Joshua told Neku to shoot him - and he didn't. Next thing Neku knew, he was awake and alive in the scramble without any explanation as to why. And as you know, Shibuya still exists."

"So what exactly is he testing me for, then?" Sora piped up, "And how am I supposed to prove anything to him?"

"Just be you, I guess." Riku said, and Sora rolled his eyes.

"I don't even know who I am!" he yelled, and for quite some time everyone was silent. Finally Kairi spoke up.

"Maybe that's part of his whole test," she said quietly, "The first week, your light was taken, and it made you this horribly depressed shell of yourself. Even then, you still fought your way through, not for yourself but for me. For a friend," she bit her lip. "If we're looking at this like it's an experiment, then the next thing to take away would be your friends. He's - he's testing your motivations, I think."

Mickey hummed. "It does make sense somewhat," he said, "But if that's the case, why would he allow Riku into the Underground? They've been friends just as long as Sora's been friends with Kairi."

"He has." Kairi said, "But Sora doesn't remember any of that."

"Standing right here." Sora grumbled, then furrowed his eyebrows, tapping his chin. "And, I mean, I think RIku and I have kinda become friends now anyway. So how does that work out with this Joshua's great big plan?"

Riku's heart gave a little leap, feeling the beginnings of a smile - and then Kairi wiped it away just as quickly.

"I think that makes Riku a target," she said sadly, "He's your partner in all of this, Sora - what if he-"

Riku's eyes widened. "Demyx already tried that last night. He - he told me I could choose to leave the game if I wanted."

Kairi snorted. "Yeah, right. Like you would."

"So you think since he couldn't get me to leave on my own, he'll be focussing on erasing me from now on, to get a reaction for Joshua's experiment. Great." Riku sighed.

Sora put his hand on Riku's shoulder. "That just means we gotta be ready for whatever gets thrown at us."

Riku nodded.

"Anything you guys haven't figured out about fighting down there? Pins, memes, imprinting? Any of that?" Kairi asked.

"Um," Sora said, "All of those. No idea what you're talking about."

"Except that poor tree you just murdered with a Honda." Riku smirked.

"_Hey!"_

Kairi shook her head, and then proceeded to take the next twenty minutes having Sora show her the pins he had and explaining how to use them, then having the both of them try them out with fairly equal success - something she was impressed with, as apparently not everyone could use every pin. Then she moved on to memes and imprinting them, which involved collecting words and phrases, the memes, and then using them to influence the living: imprinting.

"You both need to make sure to protect your Player pins, as well," she said firmly. "If you lose them you lose the protection they give you."

Mickey nodded. "Right. Neku warned us about these pins called O-Pins, which can allow for mass imprinting on those wearing them who are not protected by the Player pins. You need to be especially careful, Riku, with your Player pin. You're still alive. Any player could imprint a meme on you without even needing you to be in possession of an O-Pin."

"Weird thing though." Sora interrupted. "We haven't seen any other players. It's just been me and Riku."

Kairi shook her head. "Doesn't mean they're not there. It took us a while to-"

A sudden spark shot through the hand Riku was using to hold onto the Gummiphone while simultaneously Sora gasped and clutched his wrist. Their phones beeped with an incoming message. Riku swore, dropping the Gummiphone and watching it explode before it even hit the ground. Great. Just great. He still had so many questions - and he really would have liked to give them all a just-in-case goodbye.

"120" Sora said, breaking Riku out of his irritated thoughts, and Riku reached into his pocket to pull out the other phone and check the message.

**Defeat the player at the top of 104. You have 120 minutes. Fail, and face erasure.**

"What?" Riku breathed, his stomach lurching. "They want us to-"

"Riku . . ." Sora murmured. "Are they telling us we have to - we have to kill someone? Erase someone else who's just trying to-" Sora shook his head and looked down at the ground, didn't finish his sentence.

"I- I don't know." Riku said uncomfortably. "It sounds like it." he sighed. "And if it's our mission, it's probably this other player's as well."

"So they're probably going to be pretty desperate to take us down too."

Riku nodded and clenched his fist. "We'd better hurry. That building is huge and I doubt they're going to let us just take the elevator."

He wasn't wrong. The walk alone took twenty minutes, and the trip up the building took a full hour. It was almost straight fighting, monsters of all kinds in their way nearly every step of the way. The 104 building was far worse than the street, ten floors of Noise just about everywhere, invisible walls preventing any hope of simply running through, and for whatever reason, red coated Reapers that thought it would be a fun idea to give them quizzes on a city they knew nothing about.

By the time they reached the top, Riku was absolutely exhausted. Sora didn't look to be faring much better. While neither of them were slouches in the epic battle department, even though Sora didn't actually know this, the amount of effort it had taken to get there had definitely taken its toll. If there were a bright side to look on, it would be that their abilities with the pins were at least a thousand percent better than when they had started, and Sora had relearned to fight together at nearly the level he had before. Whether it was out of muscle memory or just simple necessity was anyone's guess, and not something Riku had time to dwell on.

"I'm guessing the roof then?" Sora said, catching his breath and shaking a women's blouse off of his shoe - there were clothes and shoes and cat figurines _everywhere_, some things singed from fire, others encased in blocks of ice. Flowery parasols turned inside out and lace dresses hanging from the ceiling like mutilated spider webs.

"Probably-" Riku began, and then cried out in a surprised 'oomph,' shoved to the ground the second he turned his gaze to Sora, watching Sora's eyes widen on Riku's way to the floor.

Riku quickly righted himself, Sora helping him get to his feet, and whirled around to see Demyx and another man he didn't recognize.

Demyx laughed, pulling a few kernels of popcorn from the biggest red and white striped bucket Riku had ever seen, while the other man held out a Player pin in his view.

"Missing something?" The new guy asked, and Riku's hand shot to the left flap of his jacket pocket where he had stuck his player pin underneath. He swore.

"Riku." Sora said nervously. "Tell me that's not yours."

"Wish I could." Riku replied.

Demyx grinned. "This mission's super fun. You're gonna like it. Okay, so this guy," Demyx pointed, for no reason other than he was a bit of an ass, "he's already lost his partner. Sad times." he said. "So he's been waiting up here, just for you, so he can save himself from getting erased because of it. Course," Demyx smiled, "we had to add a stipulation or two to give him the deal. You understand." he shrugged. "He wins, he goes back to the Realground and gets back his lady friend. He loses, he goes up to the Realground - but he gets a new job guiding souls to the Underground for fun and games down here." Demyx pouted. "Really not a bad offer. One end you get love and freedom, the other, job security. Except he doesn't like the position we're offering too much." he turned to the man, who was clenching a fist in barely concealed rage. "Do you, Noctis?

"Bastard." Noctis spat and looked to Riku and Sora, then away. "I'm sorry." He threw Riku's pin to Demyx.

"Sweet!" Demyx said, grinning. I've been wanting to play the meme game since the Composer told me about it. So cool. Thanks for volunteering, Mouseketeer!"

"Riku," Sora grabbed his wrist and hissed in his ear. "You gotta run. I'll take care of-"

"Uh uh! Heard that!" Demyx laughed. He waved his hand and a barrier rose, then he fished a phone out of his pocket. "So, I'm group messaging three memes. And I'll let Noctis choose which one he wants to use. See? Fun! Go on, take out your phones. You'll wanna see." His grin turned sharklike. "Oh this one's bad. Option one!'

Four beeps. _**Kill a friend.**_

Three pairs of eyes widened, Sora took a step back.

"No way in _hell,_ Demyx." Noctis said, fiercely.

Demyx shrugged. "Hey, you could have had him do half your work for you. Really don't see the downside there." he sighed. "Okay," he said, grabbing and handful of popcorn and chewing obnoxiously, "How about this. Option two," he said with a full mouth and a spray of popcorn bits.

Four beeps. _**Kill yourself.**_

Riku dropped his phone. He'd just promised he would never. And now, right in front of Sora?

Noctis took one look at him and then turned back. "No."

Riku remembered how to breathe.

Demyx sighed. "Fine. Last option. Best of both worlds, no bloody mess, just some vanishing action. Make him break the rules."

Four beeps. _**Use the Keyblade.**_

Riku turned to Sora, opened his mouth to ask him what the message said, when the idea came to his head, clear as day: _Use the Keyblade. _Riku raised his arm.

"Wait!" Sora shouted frantically, dropping his phone and waving his hands in front of Riku's eyes to try and get his attention. "Riku, don't! You can't!"

Riku barely heard him, Sora's fearful yell only a whisper through the meme's intrusive chant.

_Use the Keyblade. Use the Keyblade. Use the Keyblade._

Of course he should use the Keyblade! These pins were fine for the Noise, but to take down an opponent like this, in any world …

"Riku! The Rules! We'll-

_Use the Keyblade. _

Riku felt his fingers start to tingle with magic, but he hesitated. Why was he hesitating? It was so obvious what he needed to do …

Sora grabbed him by both wrists, squeezing hard and pulling him down. Barely an inch from his face, Sora looked him directly in the the eye.

"Riku." he said firmly. "Do _NOT_ use the Keyblade."

Riku blinked, a bit of the haze clearing from his eyes. "Sora?" He asked. What was Sora doing here? When did he - and when did he get so close? _Why_ was he so close? Vaguely he heard laughter from someone in the room.

"Ooooh! You're gonna lose!" The voice chuckled. "He's getting distracted! You ready for your new job? You'll start immediately!"

_USE THE KEYBLADE!_

"_Sora . . ." _Riku said, dazed, "I have to use the -"

"I'm sorry." Sora blurted.

And then he kissed him.

The shock of it wiped Riku's mind blessedly blank, everything narrowed to that single point of contact. It barely lasted a moment and then it was over, Sora leaning back and then tearing a Pin off Riku's jacket, spinning to utilize psychokinesis and ripping Noctis' Player Pin off of his hip and clear out the window. Taking advantage of Noctis' surprise, Sora ran at him full tilt, throwing alternating fire and ice that half missed and half did a respectable amount of damage. As soon as Sora paused to breathe, Demyx snapped his fingers and up came a wall between them.

He began a slow clap and whistled lowly, "Well, _that_ was fun," he said, grinning and tossing his now empty popcorn bucket over his shoulder. He looked to Noctis, made mocking gun fingers with his hands and said, "Bye bye! I'm bored now. You lose. Enjoy your new employment!" With a wave of his hand, Noctis vanished and Demyx turned to Sora, who was clenching his fists and staring at the spot Noctis once occupied.

"You barely gave him a chance!" Sora yelled.

Demyx shrugged and flipped Riku's Player Pin in the direction of Sora's forehead. Sora caught it deftly before it hit him.

"You know," Demyx said, changing the subject by indicating Riku with an incline of his head, "I don't know who just messed with his mind more. Noctis, or _you._" he smirked. "I'll give you a couple minutes before you go night night. See you tomorrow!"

The moment Demyx disappeared, Sora turned slowly towards Riku and Riku watched him as he approached, Sora's hands running through his hair anxiously and not making eye contact.

"I, um-" Sora began and Riku brought his hand down from where it had been covering his lips and blinked his eyes that were dry from his shocked wide stare.

"Don't." Riku said and Sora's gaze shot to meet his. "Don't apologize again-"

"I wasn't gonna-"

"You did what you had to to distract me. To keep me from dooming us both," he said robotically, dejectedly. He shrugged halfheartedly. "It worked."

"Riku, I-"

"I said DON'T!" he roared. "Whatever it is . . . You're not _HIM! _You have no idea, Sora. You're only running on the here and now, and even if . . ." Riku turned, squeezed his eyes shut. God damn it. His heart couldn't take this. He clenched his fists, took a deep breath. "We'll talk about this when you get your memories back," he murmured quietly. "Until then, pretend it didn't happen."

"Riku," Sora breathed, voice strained. Riku tensed. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I-I wasn't thinking. But," Sora steeled himself. "If the real me, the whole me, doesn't love you -" Sora grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him back around to look him in the eye. "Then he really is an idiot."

Riku startled back out of Sora's reach, eyes filling with tears at the conviction in Sora's voice, at words he'd never heard Sora say out loud so plainly. Words he still couldn't hold as true, no matter how much he wanted to. He shook his head and smiled sadly.

"We've been best friends forever. Of course he-"

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Sora sighed, folding his arms over his chest, curling in on himself.

And that's when Riku realized he had just _rejected _Sora. He'd rejected _this _Sora, and no matter how many pieces of himself this Sora was missing, those eyes were the same. That heart was the same. He'd been so shocked and confused that he'd only been thinking of himself, not even considering _this_ Sora's feelings at all.

"Dammit." Riku said aloud, and to his horror heard a badly concealed sniffle from his friend's direction. "Dammit." he said again, and then reached for Sora, wrapping him up tightly. "I am so sorry, Sora," he whispered.

Sora clutched at his jacket, buried his face in Riku's chest wetly, and Riku held tighter. "I'm jealous of myself," Sora said miserably, "How dumb is that?"

"Hey," Riku said, pulling out of the hug and nudging Sora's chin up with a knuckle. "The you right now? He's pretty cool too." Sora looked doubtful. "No, really. You just saved both of us. And - and yeah, this is, this is what it is, but . . . we made it through the day." Riku smiled. "And it's thanks to you."

Sora huffed out a chuckle, wiping at his face. "Thanks, Riku." he said, and though he was still quite obviously upset, he cracked a small smile.

"Of course. Always." he replied fondly, and as the world started to tilt in that now familiar way, he grabbed Sora's hand, and squeezed.

**DAY TWO COMPLETE.**


End file.
